Page 13 of Shaken and Stirred (Bottle Service Boys #1)

ALEX

“I’m not late. I’m not late!” I rushed into the staff room with snowflakes flying off my parka. The snow had started a few hours ago, and I miscalculated how hard it was coming down when I left home. As a result, I’d spent the whole drive stressing about making it to work on time.

Oliver, a go-go dancer who only worked at Top Shelf on Wednesday nights, smirked from where he stood, adjusting his chest harness. “I don’t know, man. I think you were due in about twenty seconds ago. Better watch it, or Park will dock your pay.”

“Stuff it, smartass.”

Oliver grabbed his junk, prominently displayed in his shimmery black jock. “No stuffing necessary. Something you’d know if you took me up on my weekly offer for a fun time in BJ Alley.”

I snorted. “Never gonna happen, Ollie. Time to move on.” Oliver didn’t really want me.

The over-the-top flirting was nothing more than a fun game between us.

He tended to go for the big, burly types who could throw him around.

While I could get on board with a bit of rough handling, I didn’t have what it took to manhandle the six-foot-two weightlifter.

Apparently, not many did if his constant complaining about not finding someone who could hold him down and rail his ass like he deserved meant anything.

I preferred someone more my equal. A dude I could fight for dominance and sometimes come out on top.

And other times on the bottom.

Damn, it’d been a while since another man had touched my dick. Too long.

The door flew open, and Trevor burst in, looking like a furry marshmallow in a long white coat with a fur-trimmed hood, white snow boots, and an equally white fluffy scarf hiding everything but his eyes.

“I refuse to serve drinks in my damn underwear tonight,” he grumbled as he stomped toward his locker.

“I don’t care if I lose tips. It’s too damn cold to be running around damn near naked.

If I accidentally brush a bottle against my nips, it’ll shatter. ”

“Buck up, princess.” Oliver shut his locker and smeared body oil across his ripped torso. “You know you’ll be sweating your scrawny little ass off in five minutes.”

Trevor whipped around and gasped. “How dare you!” The swish of his puffy coat took some of the ferocity out of his complaint. “My ass is not scrawny. It may be tiny, but it is a firm, round work of art, you big lug.” He yanked his scarf from his face and shoved off his hood. “Take it back!”

I shook my head, pressing my lips together to hide my snicker, but Oliver let his fly free.

“I’m sorry, Trev,” he said as he walked over and then kissed Trevor on the cheek. “I take it back. Your ass is spectacular.” He slapped said ass, then turned my way, rolling his eyes, and I couldn’t contain my snort of laughter any longer.

“Heard that,” Trevor grumbled. “But it is spectacular, so I’ll let it slide.” He sniffed, then began working on the buttons of his long coat.

“All right, I’m heading out before Parker sends a search party. See you boys in the trenches.”

“Bye, babe,” Trevor said.

I made some noise of farewell.

“Work it for those tips,” Trevor added.

“Always do.” Waving over his shoulder, Oliver disappeared through the door while giving us a prime view of his muscular ass cheeks displayed by the jock. “You can only stare if you tip, boys,” he yelled right before the door hid the impressive sight from view.

I grunted. If I didn’t get moving myself, I’d be late, but Trevor had a point. Taking my clothes off on nights like this felt like torture until I got into the swing of serving and worked up a sweat.

“Hey, Alex, I need to talk to you about something.”

“What’s up?” I shed my coat and then turned to Trevor, who had a worried expression. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. It’s not about me.” He sat on the bench in front of the lockers and then stood straight up again. “Um, I should have texted you this, but I thought it’d be better to tell you in person. Now I’m wondering if I should have given you more of a heads-up.”

I frowned. “Okay…”

“Parker hired someone to replace Lars,” he said of the BSB who’d resigned last week.

“Wow, that was fast.” What was the problem? “Isn’t this a good thing? Less work for us. We were going to have to cover extra tables until he hired someone.”

“Yeah…” Trevor shuffled in place. “It’s just that he doesn’t have any experience, and you’re going to be training him.”

“Oh.” I huffed out my relief. Trev knew training new employees wasn’t my favorite task, but I’d done it in the past and knew it would happen again.

“That’s no big deal. As long as he’s not a bumbling idiot, it should be fine.

We’re not exactly doing rocket science here, Trev.

I can suck it up for a few weeks.” I pulled my sweatshirt over my head and tossed it into my locker.

“Sure, I know. It’s not about training someone. It’s more who you’ll be training,” Trevor said as I drew my T-shirt off. “Try to keep this newfound positive attitude you seem to have developed.”

I flipped him off, which made him laugh.

“Exactly. Good job. Anyway, Parker hired R… oh shit.”

The door opened, and Parker strode in with his typical commanding posture. “Hey, guys,” he said. “I wanted to introduce you to our newest hire. This is Ryder.”

I froze, my long-sleeved T-shirt halfway covering my face.

He didn’t say Ryder. Tell me he didn’t say Ryder.

“Oh, wait, you already know Alex, right?”

In my state of shock, I seemed to have forgotten how to get undressed. I flailed inside my T-shirt like a toddler playing dress-up.

Someone chuckled, and my stomach lurched. I’d know that amused laugh anywhere.

Ryder was standing in the staff room. My staff room.

I finally yanked the damn shirt off and came face-to-arrogant-face with the one person I’d have been happy to go my whole life without seeing.

“That’s right, Parker. Alex and I have known each other for years.”

He’d done it. He got a job at Top Shelf.

How much trouble would I get in if I punched that half-smirk off his handsome—no, stupid—face? I narrowed my eyes and took a step forward. “What the fu—”

“Hey, I’m Trevor. We met for half a second earlier.” Trev slid in front of me, holding his hand out to Ryder and blocking my ability to clock the guy. “Welcome to Top Shelf,” he said as friendly as could be.

Traitor.

Or maybe my savior.

Had I really been about to hit the guy right in front of my boss?

“Thanks, Trevor. I’m excited to work with you.”

To the rest of the world, Ryder was as chill and friendly as could be. To me, he’d been a giant dick from day one.

“All right, I’ll leave you in their capable hands, Ryder,” Parker said as he clapped a hand on Ryder’s bare shoulder. “You’re up for training him, right, Alex?”

Oh shit. How had I not noticed he was already dressed in the Top Shelf signature ass-hugging uniform?

If there had been any justice in the universe, he’d have a terrible body covered in gorilla hair and warts.

But, no, someone up in the ethos clearly hated me because Ryder was fucking gorgeous—smooth, bronzed skin without any chest hair, just how I liked it.

Rolling hills and valleys of muscles were everywhere the eye traveled.

Not that mine did. I kept them firmly on his sea-blue eyes.

The kind rarely seen without contacts, of course.

One fair eyebrow rose in a perfect arch, challenging me.

Like what you see?

Fuck no, I don’t. You’re not my type at all.

“No problem, Parker,” I managed.

Trevor snorted, so I shot him my second-most-annoyed glare. The first was reserved for Ryder and Ryder alone.

“I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” Parker said as he turned.

Trevor cocked his head and didn’t bother to hide his sigh as he watched Parker’s ass stride out of the staff room.

“Got a little thing for the bossman, do you?” Ryder asked with a grin.

“I do,” Trevor answered, making my jaw drop. The worst-kept secret in the place was Trevor’s ginormous crush on the head honcho, but I’d never heard him admit it out loud. “So keep your hands to yourself.”

Ryder lifted said hands in surrender, chuckling. “Not a problem, man. He’s not my type. Too intense.”

“Exactly.” Trevor winked and shivered. “Exactly.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing aloud.

Ryder didn’t need to know Trevor and I were close, or he’d set out to become even closer friends with him.

And while I tended to agree with Ryder about Parker’s intensity, I’d be keeping that factoid to myself as well.

I had enough baggage of my own without having to crack through some mysterious man’s walls.

No one said anything else for a few moments. I frowned at Ryder across the silence while he stood there with that shit-eating grin as though he had no idea how I could possibly be unhappy with his presence.

“Uh, okay, well, I’m gonna get my tables set up and let you two get, uh… get started with Ryder’s training.” Trevor grabbed his bowtie and shoes and ran from the room like the floor was crumbling beneath his feet.

Lucky bastard. I guess I wasn’t the only one to notice the thick tension and wish I could be elsewhere.

With Trevor gone, I let my frown turn into a full-blown sneer. I’d play nice-ish around the rest of the staff but had no plans of being friendly when we were alone.

“What the fuck are you doing, Ryder?”

“Oooh.” He snickered. “I like how you say my name all snarly like an angry lion.”

I walked toward him, stopping when the fresh scent of his expensive cologne invaded my senses. God, that was nice. Why couldn’t he smell like shit?

Too close. I needed to step back, but I would rather die than let him think I couldn’t handle being in his space.

To prove that point, I leaned even closer.

“Cut the bullshit. Be real for five-fucking-seconds.” Shit, my eyes wanted to roll back from the heavenly aroma.

My dick also tried to get involved with a nice little twitch, but I bit the inside of my cheek hard to shut that down.

Ryder shrugged. The movement bunched his round shoulders, showing off his delts. I forced myself to look back at his face, but that was barely better as he had a damn dimple on the right side next to his damn perfect lips when he smiled.

It’d be so fun to stick my tongue—

Nope.

It’d be great to lick some other guy’s dimples, and if I survived this night, that’s what I’d do. Finding someone to fuck would become priority number one. Maybe I’d even take a night off this weekend and hit up someplace where I could find a hookup.

Though it would really hurt to lose those tips.

“I need something to occupy my time until next semester. And I told you the other night, I think I’d be good at this.” He winked. “Better than you.”

“We’ll see about that. And by the way, you look ridiculous in those shorts.”

“You think?’ As he peered down his long body, he ran a hand over his abs, stopping right at the waistband of the shorts. He slipped a thumb inside, then patted the area right above his impressive bulge.

For sure, it was too much to hope he had a tiny dick.

“I kinda like how I look.”

The simple yet loaded statement snapped me back to reality.

“Of course you do.” I sighed. We couldn’t stand here and go back and forth all night, or we’d—I’d—miss critical tips.

Ryder didn’t need a single extra dollar.

“Fine, if you insist on this insanity, here’s how it’s gonna go.

I will show you the ropes and ensure you have all the necessary information and training, but that’s it.

We’re not gonna make small talk or become buddies, and we won’t play stupid pranks on each other like we used to.

I’ve worked here for over a year. This job is important to me, and I refuse to fuck that up because of you, got it? ”

“Yes, sir!” He snapped out a salute.

My teeth would be ground to nubs by the end of the night.

“Once you’re on your own, that’s it. We don’t talk anymore. We’ll be nothing more than moving furniture to each other.”

His exaggerated pout did nothing to ease my mind. “Well, that sounds boring,” he said. “What happens when I beat you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When customers decide I’m better at this than you are. We need some prize, doncha think?”

“No, I don’t think. There is no contest, bet, competition, or whatever you want to call it. There’s only you working and me working. Some of us have bills to pay.”

I turned, giving him my back as I yanked my sweatpants down and stuffed them in my locker, leaving me in my uniform shorts.

I might not look like Mr. Muscles back there, but I took care of myself and liked my body.

My ass was my best feature, if I did say so myself.

A few years ago, I’d gone on a tattoo spree, spending any spare change I could muster on new ink.

Guys seemed to like my tattoos. Some even went nuts for them.

Did Ryder?

Nope . It didn’t matter.

Once my shoes and bowtie were on, I turned and brushed past him toward the door. “Keep up, newbie,” I said in a clipped tone. “I work fast and won’t slow down for you.”

“Pretty sure I can handle it,” he said, his eyes sparkling with mirth. Maybe I could convince Parker to make Ryder wear sunglasses so I didn’t have to see that unique green speck in his eyes while I worked all night.

I shrugged. “We’ll see.”

He snorted a laugh and followed me out the door.

I’d been here ten minutes, and I already hated this shift more than any other.